Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall
by Rose's.wings
Summary: One choice was all it took to split the world into two different time lines. Now someone named the Guardian is forcing both Fangs to switch places in order to merge their worlds back together. But can they? And if they do, will someone die in the process?
1. Chapter 1

My second Maximum Ride story. Oh I just can't wait until the fourth book comes out! I saw on Amazon it was going to be released March 18! Hooray! Anyway, if this story confuses you at all, I am sorry, but that's just how it is. Send me an e-mail or something if you get absolutely too confused and I'll do my best to explain it but otherwise it's in the story.

By the way, I do not own Max or anyone else. It's sad, I know, but true.

* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall

One choice was all it took. By stopping to eat breakfast one fine autumn morning four years after destroying Itex, Max chose one door and entered the bitter future it held.

However, by choosing not to land, another Max, another timeline, another future was created. So next to the first bleak room now stands an identical, if not brighter, room.

"This was not supposed to happen." A stern pale woman said to her self as she watched two windows which appeared to be showing the same people. "Having near identical rooms so close to each other leads to the destruction of one or the other, if not both."

And one choice was all it had took, she thought bitterly.

* * *

Room One

Max ran as fast as her injured legs could carry her. Even half supported by Fang she stumbled over every tiny obstacle there seemed to be. Her wings throbbed and her back ached from her previous flights and injuries and she was sure that the desolate abandoned city looked grayer then it should.

"C'mon," Fang urged, setting her back on her feet again. "We've got to hide."

Max nodded mutely and followed her husband as steadily over the destroyed streets as she could. On either side were broken houses. The fierce wind had stripped them of their paint and shine and the glass in the windows was either broken or missing. The grass had died and been replaced with gray dirt and the pavement was cracked, turning it into large chunks of rubble.

But Max and Fang did not notice any of this. It was too ordinary to gain much attention as it was, but with a Hunter chasing them, their surroundings became obsolete all together.

"In here." Max panted pointing to one house that looked sturdier then the others, but still appeared shabby and broken. Fang stopped and picked her up and then jumped up with the help of his wings to the second story window. Max held on tight, her arms around Fang's neck, annoyed that her wounded legs and wings could not have even made that small jump successfully.

The room they found themselves in was bare and dirty with only a mattress, a bedside table with only three legs and a closet whose door hung half way off its hinges. The room's door was missing entirely and as the Hunter's swift foot steps grew closer Max pulled Fang to the empty doorway and stood so that they were both underneath the frame.

"We need a door." She said standing close enough to Fang that she had to tilt her head back to see his face.

"He's going to try and open it and if it's locked, then he'll just break it down." Fang said angrily as he dug a small circular device the size of his palm out of his jeans pocket. "And the only one who'll be glad to hear your back was broken is the Director."

"Then we'll just have to move when he thinks he's opening the door." Max whispered irritably also keeping her voice down as Fang attached the small circle first to Max and then to him self.

The front door shattered with a loud crack as the Hunter entered the house. Fang activated the circle without a sound and the image of a rotting wooden door slowly crept up their legs in a two way mirror where Max and Fang could see out, but no one else could see in.

They were fully hidden by the time the Hunter had ascended the stairs and searched one of the other rooms. They stood quietly, barely breathing in case the Hunter heard them as the other mutant walked calmly along the hall.

After what felt like hours later, the near perfect assassin stopped in front of Max and Fang.

All three stood perfectly still. Fang stared out of the protective haze willing the hunter to keep searching and leave when he could not find anything. Max resisted the irritating urge to turn around and look at the thin face of the false eyes of her enemy, but any movement would break their camouflage and with the Hunter not even a foot away, it was something she could not do.

The Hunter, oblivious that his prey was literally right under his nose, stared at the door. He was confused by the decaying things presence. The only other door in the abandoned house had been the front door; the rest had been taken long ago by scavengers or travelers. Slowly, the Hunter reached out a clawed hand and pushed the door open. Taking the small squeak that Max let out for rusty hinges, the Hunter saw that the room was sparsely furnished. This would explain the door. Someone had lived here recently and had replaced the door for privacy. Logical, however his prey had not been in the room. There was no excess resonance left over from their bodies or baggage.

Forgetting the empty room, the Hunter searched the rest of the house and as soon as his sensors saw that no trails of body heat or scent were left over, he left the run down house to search the surrounding area. Then when his search came up empty, he morphed into one of his former hunts and flew off in search of the rebel leaders, gliding on the wind with his newly grown wings.

Fang let out a deep breath of air then turned off the camouflage device. Silently crossing the room, he peered out the window just in time to see the Hunter turn into distant speck in the sky.

"He's gone." Fang said, turning back to Max. She was pale and unsteady, using the door frame for support.

"Max?" He said coming back from the window in time to catch a very shaky Max as she slipped down the door frame. "Are you okay?"

"No," She said feeling dizzy and lightheaded. "I think the Hunter had poison on his claws." She mumbled, her voice getting weaker as she spoke. Fang set her down on the worn out mattress as gently as he could.

"Max," He said quietly shaking her shoulders. "Stay awake okay, here we go." He said pulling out a slim silver case from his torn bag. He popped open the lid to reveal five skinny needles filled with clear liquid. Quickly, before Max was unable to keep her heavy eyes open, Fang turned the syringe horizontally and pressed pushed down the plunger until he heard a small click, like a pen. A green light poured out of the small rectangular box on the body of the syringe, scanning the cuts where the Hunter had first cut Max.

After the two seconds it had taken the syringe to scan Max's body in order to discover the type of poison the Hunter had decided to use today, the clear liquid inside the syringe body turned a watery shade of red. As soon as the serum had completely changed colors, Fag injected the antidote into Max's weakening body.

Max fell back against Fang's chest as soon as he took the empty needle away from her neck. "Max," She thought she heard Fang's voice above and behind her head. "Max?"

"I'm okay," She managed to say feeling the relief of the antidote spread through her body. "But I'm tired." She forced the words past her lips as her lids shut. With the Hunter chasing them, neither she nor Fang had gotten much sleep, if any, in the past three days. That coupled with the receding adrenaline rush, Max was past exhausted.

So was Fang for that matter, however as the last one to actually sleep, he was in slightly better shape then his wife. Besides, Hunters were known for their infallibility, so if by some miracle they missed or passed their prey, then the hunt turned into a wild goose chase and the Hunter moved on. At least for a couple of hours before he, or she, realized they had failed and went to correct their mistake with a vengeance. If the Hunter was not back by then, then Fang would chance some sleep. He was going to need it eventually anyway.

* * *

A silvery figure watched as Fang moved into a more comfortable position and leaned his head against the decrepit wooden wall of the room a few hours after the Hunter had left. The glowing women nodded her head gravely and then turned her attention to the empty space next to the window of air which showed the exhausted and injured Max and Fang.

She waved her hand over the neighboring patch of air and another window appeared also showing Max and Fang.

Except that these tow were clean and smiling and just getting ready to go to sleep in their own four poster bed. New Earth's capitol city of Valencia, named after the only adult who had truly cared about the Flock when they were young, showed beyond the clear cut window as a shimmer of sparkling lights.

Room One was ready, the Guardian thought to her self, now she just had to wait for Room Two and she could begin.

* * *

Well that's chapter one. I hope you like it, even if I did end he world. Come back for more soon! 


	2. Chapter 2

How sad no one reviewed. Review! Please?

Once again, I don't own anybody, even if their are two sets of them now.

* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall

Room Two

"Thank goodness," Max whispered mercifully as she shut the door decisively behind her as Fang whispered, "Quick lock the door before they think of something else to bug us with." Max locked the door before the group of middle aged advisors outside could protest.

"Well finally." Fang said once the rabble outside quieted and hopefully disappeared. "Now," He said turning toward a smiling Max. "What were we doing? Oh yes." He said almost playfully causing Max to actually giggle. "I remember." Max put her arms around Fang's neck as he leaned down and kissed her.

Later, as Max drifted on the brink of sleep next to Fang, a creak woke her.

"Aunt Max?" An even smaller voice whispered from underneath the door. "Uncle Fang? Are you asleep?"

"Not anymore." Max heard Fang say sleepily to him self as he buried his nose into Max's hair. "What is it Zig?" He said a little louder so the boy outside the door could hear him.

"Can I come sleep with you two? I had a bad dream and Daddy isn't here to make the monster go away." The boy whined from the other side of the door. "Please?"

"Are you sure it just isn't Total again?" Max was too tired to deal with this as she looked at her alarm clock to see that it was nearly two in the morning, much too early to deal with little kids.

"Yes because Total is sleeping with Auntie Angel and the monster is still there because Daddy wasn't there to scare it away!"

Max sighed as Fang groaned in annoyance. "Okay, Zig, hold one. Let me find my clothes real quick." He said the last part quietly, but Zig still managed to hear him.

"Your clothes? Why aren't you wearing them? Oh my gosh Uncle Fang are you sleeping without your clothes?!"

"Do you want me to unlock the door or not?" Fang asked already in a grumpy mood because of the early, _early_, wake up call.

"Yes please!" Little Ziggy called politely from the under the door.

Fang unlocked the door and let in the little blonde haired three year old as Max finished putting on her pajamas. The little boy scrambled in next to his aunt as his uncle relocked the door and crawled back into bed.

* * *

The Guardian turned her attention from the two windows showing the two nearly identical dozing men and motioned for one of her assistants to come over. 

Her newest girl, often called Ista by the other girls, gave her master a short bow before speaking. "What do you need Guardian?" She asked formally, keeping her green eyes on the ground, as etiquette demanded.

The Guardian did not notice as her attention returned to the screen as soon as Ista had begun to move in her direction.

"I need you to prepare a small tunnel in the wall so that these two," she pointed to the separate Fangs, "will switch places."

In shock Ista broke the rules of courtesy and looked at her instructors face.

"But Guardian," She exclaimed. "The two rooms are fragile enough as it is; to tear them further would only quicken each world's destruction by making them crash-"

"I know very well what a new tunnel would mean Assistant; however these may be extenuating circumstances. Now," The Guardian fixed a cold glare on her freshest assistant. "Do as you are told."

"Yes Guardian." Ista said weakly giving her master another small bow. She only hoped as she went to prepare the tunnel that the rumors were false and the Guardian was not as crazy as she appeared.

Room One

Fang drifted between sleep and wakefulness as his dream opened up in a hole of brilliant colors that sucked him in as soon as he saw them. He spun through the pitch blackness in a very disorienting way until he was jolted awake by someone's cold hands against his skin.

Then he was back in bed with Max and Ziggy curled up on his other side. He rubbed his eyes sluggishly trying to get rid of the sparkling colors that were still leftover from the hole in his dream. It took him a moment to realize that some of the sparks he still saw were from the sun that was streaming through the window. Fang tried to hide his eyes in Max's hair and did his best to ignore the sun.

His movement must have woken Max because she shifted in his arms and whispered a tired sounding, "Good morning."

"Did Ziggy keep you up last night?" Fang asked, not wanting to open his eyes quite yet.

Max gave a short laugh. "Ziggy is a horrible name and yes," She said using his shoulders to help her stand up. "She did."

Fang opened his eyes in confusion, ready to ask Max what the heck she was talking about when he was that he was not in his room with Max and Ziggy, but in a dirt washed rotting room with one window that had broken glass sticking out of its pane.

"Fang? Are you okay?" Max asked the confused man, who had forgotten to close his mouth and seemed to be gaping at his surroundings. "What's the matter?"

"Noth-" He halfway strangled out before he saw Max stretch her heavy body. Even in his strangest dream he had never pictured his wife as seven months pregnant in a house with nothing but harsh winds and lifeless ruins outside.

"Are you sure you're not hurt or anything?" Max said turning around. "Fang?" She said again, more slowly, when he did not say anything.

He was staring at her, or rather at the baby, like he had never seen her before. Plus the way he gazed at their current surroundings in such undisguised confusion, made Max edgy. The only logical assumption was that the Hunter had hurt Fang in some way, but for some reason Max did not think that the logical assumption was the right assumption.

Max pulled out her sidearm and leveled it at the doppelgangers chest.

"Who are you?" She said her voice hard. Fang was wise enough not to move as Max kept the firearm steadily pointed at his heart.

"Where is my husband?" She yelled when he did not speak.

Fang spread his hands apart in apparent confusion. "Where is my wife?" he asked. "And where am I?"

Max scoffed at him. "Play innocent all you like," She said cocking her firearm. "But I'm still waiting for my answer."

"I don't even know who your husband is, much less where he is." Fang said.

Max ignored him. "You have the count of three to tell me where Fang is." She said calmly.

"There must be some kind of mistake, I'm Fang."

"One." Max pushed a small blue button next to the trigger.

"Did you hear me? My name is Fang."

"Two." She continued steadily.

"How can I make this any clearer? I. Am."

"Three."


	3. Chapter 3

Yeah, I got reviews! Thank you O Wingless One and GreenAwsomeness. I'm glad you both liked it enough to tell me something.

Disclaimer: Anyone you have heard of is most likely not mine.

* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall

Chapter Three

Ista stood before the Guardian, trying to hide her terror.

"You have already sent them through?" The Guardian screamed in rage, her white hair flying behind her as she angrily paced before her petrified assistant. "You did not even try to prepare them for the switch and look what has happened because of it!" She pointed to the dirty room where Max checked Fang's unconscious body for any clues as to what had happened to her husband. Much the same was going on in the other Room and now Fang was rushing down a corridor trying to discover where his Max was.

A furious sigh from the Guardian caught the youngest assistant's attention once more.

"I will send them back and fix your horrid mistake but you," she said pointing to the Second Room, "will have to go there and knockout that Fang long enough for him to survive the switch!"

Ista nodded and quickly took her RHD from her pocket and attached its counterpart, the Stabilizer, on the second window. She secured her Return Home Device to the bodice of her pale dress like a brooch and then with a quick running start, she leaped through the second window as a cloud of silvery mist.

* * *

Room Two 

Fang ran quickly through the carpeted halls the homey wall papered walls flying past at an alarming rate. Behind him was Max. Or at least she looked like Max, but Fang was sure that she was only another look alike, like Max II. Only this one would be Max X or XX or something like that. Fang had lost track after VI.

However he _was_ fairly sure that the Director and her cronies were behind the apartment building and Max two billion and three.

Fang kept running, looking for some kind of control room or, even better, a holding cell where Max would be. However, all he found was a dead end with a window that was not even big enough for Total, much less Fang. Besides the window, there was a decorative shelf and chest with assorted candle sticks and vases with enamel flowers. Fang grabbed one of the taller candle sticks, taking out the lilac smelling stick of wax in time to see Max's double turn the corner. She had an old fashioned gun with her, the kind that shot bullets instead of energy. So far it was the only thing that had escaped the frills that had suffocated the rest of the building.

"Who the heck are you?" Killer Max said as a little blue eyed boy poked his head around the corner. He watched as the little boy's eyes grew to the size of pocket watches as they stared at the shelf above Fang's head.

"Where is Fang?!" Max said either not seeing or just ignoring whatever it was that was above Fang. The little boy kept his eyes locked above the imposter's head as Max prepared to shoot.

The boy pointed and shouted, "Look out!" leaving Fang enough time to look up to see a highly ornamented vase crash into his head.

* * *

Room One 

The next thing Fang know, he was back in the rundown house lying face up on the worn out mattress.

Max was still pointing a gun at him.

No scratch that, this was a stun gun, not an old average gun.

"Max?" Fang croaked putting a hand to his head and flinching when he felt a lump the size of his fist. "What happened?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," Max's hard voice instantly getting Fang's groggy attention. Slowly, if not a little painfully, Fang sat up with his back against the wall.

"Who are you?" Max said her face a blank mask.

"I'm Fang. Who do you think I am, the Easter Bunny?" Fang asked his temper flaring as his head throbbed more.

"Prove it." Max said powering up her weapon in case she heard a wrong answer.

Fortunately, it was near impossible for Fang to give one and he whispered his answer so softly so that only Max could hear.

"Thank goodness it's you." Max said leaning the back of her head against the other wall.

"Who else would I be?" Fang asked as he popped tow ibuprofen into his mouth and swallowed them dry. Max explained about the other Fang as her tall, dark haired husband sat next to her to listen.

"Eerie." Fang said. "And it sounds like what happened to me, except while you got the person, I got the place."

Max leaned wearily against Fang's shoulder. "Do you think the Director is behind the doubles and the fancy schmancy building?"

"I don't know." Fang said watching Max closely. "It seems kind of high tech for her. Are you all right?" He asked sliding one hand behind her back and the other over her left hand, which had settled underneath their restless child.

"Yeah," Max finally answered Fang's question. "She's just moving a lot."

They were quiet for a moment until Max sighed heavily and bumped her head against the wall again. "You don't think the poison hurt her do you?" Max asked worriedly not taking her hand from her stomach.

"I don't know." Fang answered truthfully, thinking about how long the toxins would have needed to reach their fragile baby. "Is your mother still living in The Caverns?" Fang asked trying to think of the closest friendly underground that would have the personal to look after Max.

"She was the last time I heard." Max said interpreting his train of thought. "But Hades is twice as close as The Caverns and its closer to Home."

"But your mom is the best and you were the one complaining the other day about how too many people know about the baby already."

Max closed her eyes. "Stupid secret." She muttered, her desire for secrecy and safety battling with her newly discovered maternal instincts.

In the end safety won. She and Fang had decided early on to tell only a few trusted people about the baby. That way there was a slimmer chance that the Director would somehow find out and come looking for her.

"Fine," Max huffed, worry for her baby not helping her already fraying temper. "Help me up and let's get out of here."

* * *

Room Two 

Max watched as her mom left Fang in her colleague's care and exited the room.

"How is he?" the younger woman asked anxiously as her friends Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel all looked up at the caring older lady. Ziggy and Total had both fallen asleep from boredom in the younger girls' laps a few hours ago.

"He's fine." Dr. Martinez said sitting next to her oldest daughter. "He's just…unconscious. Are you sure you don't know what happened?"

Max thought for a moment. "No." She finally said in a decisive manner. "One moment the imposter was out cold on the floor and the next Fang was sitting with his back to the other wall, also unconscious.

"Are you sure it wasn't some kind of dream?" Nudge asked quietly in order not to disturb Ziggy.

"Yes, although," Max said thinking again. "There was this bizarre spark just before the imposter disappeared. But it wasn't anything I've seen before like the new thing Iggy's building." She said forgetting the name of her friend's new toy.

"It's a Multiplier." Gazzy said.

"Of what?" Nudge covered Ziggy's ears so she could talk a little louder.

Gazzy shrugged his shoulders and Nudge and Angel rolled their eyes in exasperation.

A knock at the door made the flock stop their fun and arrange themselves to look like the model mutants like they were supposed to be, or at least look like.

"Who is it?" Max asked calmly and waited as one of her lesser assistants answered through the door.

"Maximum Ride?" The excited teenager called. "Mr. Overstreet would like to speak with you."

Max sighed. "Thank you, tell him "I'll be right there Robin." The young man eagerly did as he was told, thrilled that the Maximum Ride, the ruler of Valencia, the defeater of Itex, had remembered his name.

Max slowly stood up. She hated visiting the lion's den that was Joseph Overstreet's office. Officially he was one of her oldest advisors. Unofficially they hated each other. There opinions were just to different for there to be any other way and while Max would hat to admit that she did respect the elder man for his loyalty during the war against Itex as well as for his continued support of the new world it had created, she just could not find it within her self to actually like him.

"Call me when Fang wakes up." Max told her mother before walking out the door to Overstreet's office on the other side of the building.

By the time Max reached Overstreet's office, she was in the mood for a good argument. She had been stopped five times on the way over to be harassed by idiots who wanted to talk with her about the plans for Independence Day even though she must have told them the same exact thing several hundreds times each day before this. In a way she was amazed that in one week it would have been two years since Itex had been defeated and the world had won its freedom from the out of control mutant creating machine.

Finally Max was ushered into the room where Joseph Overstreet was waiting. Without waiting for any recognition, she sat down in a chair facing the grey haired man and waited patiently for him to finish with whatever it was he was doing.

"What do you want Mr. Overstreet?" Max asked, too irritated for pleasantries.

The old man looked coolly up at his superior in surprise, but did not say anything. He hated beating around the bush when something simple was being discussed.

"I think it would be best if James returned immediately." He said without hesitation once Max was settled. Max inwardly frowned at the use of Iggy's formal name. No matter how many times any of the flock had told the old man that they preferred to be called Iggy or Nudge or Max, Mr. Overstreet insisted on using the names that their parents had at least planned to give them. He believed that it was only proper to call the ruling 'family' by proper names. The six bird kids had thought that he would at least be forced to call Max and Fang by their real names since Ms. Martinez had not planned to give Max a name and Fang's mom had died without telling anybody what she liked. But they were disappointed when he just called the two oldest members Maximum and Nicholas instead.

"I suppose this is because of the imposter this morning?" The young woman asked.

"Yes. Until we know who sent him and what they want I think it would be best if you and your family stayed in the safe house."

"Sorry, but no." Max said coldly. "I'm afraid it'll take a little more then a body double to scare me back into a cage."

"Then how about a compromise?" A different voice said from the doorway. Max was shocked to see Fang standing there so composedly especially when she knew he must have just woken up form his hospital bed.

"What kind of compromise Nicholas?" Overstreet asked as Fang sat down next to Max.

"I think it is a good idea if Iggy comes back, however I don't think a safe house is necessary." Fang said looking as calm as could be even though his head throbbed and his body ached from whatever it was that the other Max had shot him with. "Instead I think it would be fine if we split the flock up."

"What?!" Max shouted, shocked that Fang would even think of such an awful idea.

"We would all be in the same building." He said quickly before max could keep arguing. "Just on different floors so that it will be more difficult for whoever sent the double to get us all at once."

Overstreet nodded thoughtfully considering the idea. "Maybe," He conceded. "But we would have to switch buildings since they have already shown that they can get into your current residence."

"I was thinking maybe the building where Dr. Martinez lives would work. I think she should be included in this as well, seeing as she's Max's mother."

Overstreet nodded again. "Yes, I think this will work. However if there is another clone then we will have to take more serious action." He said standing up to make the arrangements to move the flock.

Fang and Max also stood. "Of course." Fang said pushing Max towards the door. "Good-bye Mr. Overstreet." Fang quickly closed the door behind him and walked quickly along with Max.

"I need to talk with you." He said in a low voice before Max could start asking questions. "Privately."

* * *

A short walk-sprint later, Fang locked the door to his mother in laws office. Dr. Martinez and her daughter waited as he pulled one of the chairs closer to them both and sat down. 

"Do you want to try and explain it," Fang asked the older woman, "or should I?"

"Explain what?" Max asked wondering what in the world they were talking about.

Her mother ignored her. "I'm still trying to make sense of it myself. You try first."

"Make sense of what? What happened?" Max asked louder then before. "Are the kids okay? What?" She nearly yelled referring to the younger half of the flock, even if they were not that young anymore. After all, Angel was the youngest and she was now fifteen.

Fang shook his head. "No, they're fine, but after you and everyone else left, your Mom and I had a uh…" He looked at Dr. Martinez, silently asking for help.

"A, um, a visitor who came to talk to Fang about the look alike this morning."

Max was confused by her family's ruffled composure. Usually her Mom and Fang were the two steadiest people she knew; now they were stuttering over a visitor.

"Well what did he say?" She asked wondering where they were going with this. "Has someone found the guy from this morning?"

"No," Fang said although the look on his face said he wished they had. "And it was a woman, not a man."

Max nodded as a cold hard female voice suddenly appeared behind her.

"Oh for Heaven's sake," It said. "If you won't spit it out then I will." Max spun around to see a tall white haired woman standing impatiently behind her. She was straight backed and her hair was pinned high on her head and her floor length silver dress threw off a slight glow that lit up her pale skin. "I do not have time for the three of you to hesitate what I have already told the two of you and I certainly can't have you," She said pointing a slim pale finger at Max, "thinking that they're lying."

"Who are you? What are you doing in here?" Max demanded.

A smile lit up the woman's face which had the disconcerting affect of seeming both young and old at the same time. "I am the Guardian." She said importantly raising her chin in a vain gesture as she announced herself. "And I am here to tell you that your world is about to crash into another unless you do something now."

Max stared at the woman in concern.

The Guardian raised one shimmering silver eyebrow, daring Max to question her sanity.

Fortunately, the winged ruler kept her thoughts to her self. Instead she asked the stranger, "You're kidding right?" as she once again lowered herself in to her seat.

However this went about as smoothly as if Max had asked, "Are you crazy?"

"NO, I Am NOT Playing A JOKE On You!" The woman screamed, sending flickers of white fire dancing around her body. "Because of one stupid choice you made you created two parallel worlds that have been spiraling towards each other uncontrollably ever since their creation until the ay when the will finally crash into each other destroying themselves an everyone that lives in them. Now the only choice you have is to try and soften the blow by at least attempting to merge them back together with as little bang as possible." The fire around the Guardian died down to a radiant glow as the woman's temper cooled.

"I see," Max finally said once even the glow was gone. She still was not sure whether she should believe this apparently insane person, but she decided not to tempt another flare of temper like she had just witnessed. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

The Guardian shrugged. "Nothing, it's him I need." She said almost icily, pointing at Fang.


	4. Chapter 4

While I'm happy that nearly 90 people have read my story, I'm not so thrilled that only two of them have reviewed. If the other eighty-eight of you could follow their brilliant example, I would love you till the day I die. Thank you.

* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall

Chapter Four

Room One

"Excuse me?" Fang asked the pale glowing girl who stood wringing her hands nervously near the mouth of the sandy bottomed cave where he and Max had decided to spend the night.

"You must switch places with your counterpart in order to help ease the clash that could destroy your worlds."

Fang's head hurt too mush for this. "Why should I believe you Miss?"

"Ista," The girl readily gave her name even though Fang had not waited for one. "And if you don't believe me," she continued, "then both of you will die along with the rest of your world. This place will no longer exist, not even as barren rock."

Max sorted. "It's already barren rock Ista," She pointed out as hot rain pelted down outside on the dead ground.

Ista looked truly terrified. "You will just let your world, and the other, perish?" She squeaked horrified at the thought.

Max and Fang looked at each other.

_What d'you think?_ Max asked using her hands to talk to Fang privately even with Ista standing barely four feet away from them.

_This could explain the second Fang and the fancy building._ Fang added.

_Yeah and so could a thousand other things,_ Max sighed frustrated. _Like the Director, Itex, the plethora of Schools-_

_They wouldn't make us think that the others were alive._ Fang silently snapped.

Neither Max nor Fang knew what to think when Fang had realized that it was not only Max chasing him, but Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel as well. This did not sit right with the two surviving members of the original flock seeing as the Director herself had been the one to sign the others death warrants, including Total's. Even though the Director was no longer one of the brightest women to still walk the Earth, she was smart enough to not make recreations of the dead when she wanted someone to think she was telling the truth.

"Can you prove that you're telling the truth?!" Max demanded furiously, making Ista cringe.

"Y-yes," She stuttered. "I am allowed to show you a window to the other world. Then if you decide to believe me, you and the other Fang," She nodded towards Fang. "Will switch places."

"What will we have to do once we switch?" Fang asked.

Ista shrugged. "Nothing but stay there, by living each other lives, you will force your worlds to adjust to each other and then they will reconnect, becoming one world again. Would you like to see the window now?"

"Yes," Fang said as Max nodded.

"Very well." Ista said holding out her hands in front of her about a shoulders width apart. After releasing a deep breath, she stood quietly, her audience watching closely. Silently they waited until a faint outline of a square could be seen in between Ista's outstretched hands. The square solidified into a screen that eventually resembled a window pane. Fuzzy silhouettes could be seen through the pane.

"Oh my gosh." Max whispered leaning closer to the window as the people in the pane became exact replicas of herself and Fang.

Almost exact replicas she realized when she saw that the window Fang was missing a few scars and that herself, no, the other Max looked completely normal, meaning either that she had already had her baby or she had not been expecting one.

"Is that…?" Fang was not able to finish his sentence as he pointed at his double, who was pointing back.

Their hands touched, causing a violent flash of brilliant white fire as the window splintered into a thousand invisible pieces. Ista screamed as Max shielded her eyes as the fire engulfed her husband and then shot back through the broken window pane like a rubber band into the other world.

The fire vanished as the other Fang rolled across the sandy floor where the fire had dropped him. Max ignored him as she looked around the cave wildly for Ista.

She was gone. "Ista!" Max screamed in outrage. "What the heck did you do?!" But no one answered and the strange fidgety young women did not reappear.

* * *

"I didn't do anything!" Ista screamed, banging on the window where she could see Max yelling at her. "I'm right here!" She cried with a final thump as she pounded on the impassable window. 

Ista took a step back and tried to organize her scattered thoughts. What had happened? One moment she was talking with Max and Fang in Room One and the next she was pulled back home to the Eye. Somehow the different Fangs had switched places and the windows back to both Rooms had closed, although Ista could still see through them as if they had not changed.

A soft footstep caught the young assistant's attention, making her whirl around. The Guardian approached with smooth, even steps. She had a very…smug look on her face, which confused her newest aid.

"Guardian!" Ista cried in panic. "The windows have closed and the Fang's have been forced to cross into their other world. What do we do?"

The pale old woman calmly removed the white gloves had she been wearing, pulling them off finger by finger. "Nothing," She said coolly. "Everything is going according to my plan. There is no need to interfere." She placed the gloves on the Monitor's station, which was currently unoccupied, the girl in charge of it having escaped before the Guardian entered the room.

"But I thought it was against the Council's rules for people to switch Rooms without a tunnel we have made. That's why we're here, to make sure that people stay in their own Room." Ista said as the Guardian placed her small pearl earrings on top of her gloves, seemingly indifferent to whatever Ista said.

"Yes," The silver haired woman said picking up both her gloves and earring and stalking closer to the pale young woman who questioned her. "But it is also our job to ensure that the Rooms stay separate and do not crash into each other" She said handing Ista her garnishes. "And what the Council doesn't know won't hurt it. Now be a good girl and make sure that these are returned to my room." The Guardian said in cold anger at being questioned by one of her own assistants as she patted Ista's cheek in an unfriendly fashion before gliding away.

Ista stared after her, her words sending chills down the young woman's spine.

_"What the Council doesn't know won't hurt it."_

* * *

Max glared at Fang as he sat on the other side of the small fire as far way from the furious woman as he could without being outside the fire's warm glow in the sandy bottomed cave. 

"I take it you're the guy from this morning." Max finally said curtly, snapping a stick for the fire in two as she did so.

"If you're the lady that shot me this morning then yes." Fang answered still wary.

Max snorted. "Oh you're still upset about that are you? It was only a stun gun; don't be such a baby Fnick."

"Fnick?" Fang asked in a none too pleased tone.

Max only smiled wickedly. "Well I'm not calling you Fang and Nick is so normal, don't you think?"

Fang smothered the urge to throw something at Max as she turned to look out the cave at the heavy rain. Apparently, this Max had not changed much since the moody teenager she'd been when both she and his Max had been one person.

Another boom of thunder shook the sky and Max sighed turning her back on the storm once more. "I wish it would stop raining." She said her mood switching to frustration.

Fang did not answer, partly because he was still afraid she would shoot him again if he did and partly because what little he could see of the landscape frightened him too much to speak. As Max settled herself against the smooth sand scoured walls, Fang stood and walked to the mouth of their sheltered to get a better look.

He stared in shock, the truth that he really was in a different world finally sinking into his brain. Outside the safety of the warm dry cave where he and Max where, there was nothing. No cities, no people, no sign of life, not even any trees or animals. There probably would not have been any water either but the burning hot rain that was pouring down from the sky flooded the ground with it. It was a desert, only not like any that Fang had ever seen, with sand and wind and cactuses.

The rocky ground was littered with steamy puddles as the rain water filled the large shallow holes that pocketed the earth. The dirt was either black or rust red; Fang wasn't sure because the water was making the dirt darker than usual.

"Frightening isn't it" Max asked behind him, her eyes still closed as she leaned against the cave wall. "Not a living soul around her nearly half a thousand miles. And all it took was a war big enough to suck in the world."

Fang looked back at the desolate landscape trying to imagine the horrific war that had decimated the landscape and then tried to wipe the image out as quickly as he could.

"What happened here?" He asked terrified of the answer.

Max gestured to the spot on the floor next to her and Fang tore himself away from the nightmarish view before him and sat down next to the strange woman.

"I'm only going to explain this once so you'd better listen close, understand?" Fang nodded but didn't say anything. "Okay, so when I was almost eighteen, the six of us were flying over to my Mom's for a visit. Nudge, Gazzy, and Total especially were complaining that they were hungry and against my better judgment, we landed for breakfast in some dinky little town in Nevada. You know the kind of place that had a stop-n-go and hometown restaurant run by mom and pop but the place was too small for a Wal-Mart."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Max agreed picturing the town in her head as if it was sitting outside in the empty lands underneath the burning rain. "Anyway," She shook her head, sending the image away. "It was a trap. I don't know how the Director had been following us – we think she had an early form of Hunter – but once we were stuck in that stupid restaurant, Flyboys and Mariposas were everywhere."

Fang held up a hand in confusion. "I'm sorry," he said, "but what are Hunters and Mariposas?"

"They're experiments. Mariposas are human-butterfly or human-moth hybrids. They're really fragile and light as a feather but they have a camouflage mechanism and their bodies make a powder that can either kill you or put you to sleep depending on the circumstances. Hunters," She said darkly as she held her hands protectively around her baby. "Are much worse." Fang watched as Max's face and tone grew dark and angry with hate. "They are different from most experiments because they have not been genetically altered like the rest of us. Both men and women look like any other human being. Even on the inside they're the same as everybody else."

Fang was confused. "Then why are you so afraid of them?" He asked bewildered.

Max took a deep breath. "Because they're cold." She said her voice cracking as her brown eyes narrowed in outrage on some unseen thing. "The School takes normal people and freezes all their emotions out of them. They turn them into living breathing killing machines whose only goal is to do whatever the Director tells them to."

"What about powers?" Fang asked as he tried to assemble an image of the terrible creatures Max had just described.

Max leaned her head back against the wall behind her and rolled her head over to look at Fang. "We're not sure, mainly because Hunter's are smart enough not to show off more than they have to, which usually isn't that much by the way," Max added pushing her head off the wall. "Besides, no one has been able to live long enough to see whatever it is Hunter's can do."

Fang nodded but did not say anything. Neither did Max and the silence stretched as the two strangers stared at each other. A bright spark of lightening lit up the darkening sky as thunder boomed repeatedly. Fang grabbed a piece of wood and tossed it into the fading fire.

"So," He asked tentatively. "What do we do now?"

"We're going to go to my mother's in the Caverns for health reasons. If nothing disrupting happens we should be there the day after tomorrow."

"Are you going to try and explain me to her and the others or just pretend I'm Fang?"

Max scrunched up her face in confusion. "Others?" She asked as she dug in Fang's backpack for food.

"Yes," Fang said disbelievingly. "The others as in Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel, Total. What others do you know?"

Max's face shut down to a blank, unfeeling mask as Fang, no Nick, she reminded herself ferociously, (the man sitting next to her was not her husband) listed off the names of her former friends.

"They left a long time ago." Max finally answered softly. Shortly after she went to bed, recommending that Fang-Nick do the same, they were going to have a long day tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry this is so late. I don't know why I'm so behind, but I am. And just for a warning, even though it's spring break where I am, I make no promises about another update this week. However I'll try to get back on my update-every-thursday schedule.  


* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall 

Chapter Five

It was near two in the morning when Ista managed to sneak into the Records Room. The Guardian and her First Assistant, Lani, had kept the rest of the assistants, as well as quite a few Monitors and Record Keepers busy with information from the two tangled Rooms.

For the most part, both sets of flying mutants had managed to sort themselves out. The Max and Fang in Room One were still hidden inside the cave on the edge of the empty lands Ista had seen before. In Room Two, the flock had moved into Dr. Martinez's building as well as their separate rooms according to Fang's plan. Max slept in the guest room near her mother while Fang slept on the plush couch in the living room. Of course this could have changed since the last time Ista had looked at the two windows, but since it was the middle of the night, the young lady doubted that anyone had moved.

But as Ista searched through the Guardian's personal records from over the last few years, she pushed both Rooms into the back of her mind. She preoccupied herself with the Guardian's hard to read scribble as she looked through page after page of recorded events from previous Rooms, worlds, and dimensions, searching for anything that might clear her suspicions.

"Or confirm them," Ista though to herself as she laid aside another yellowed page that hinted that the Guardian was going against the Council's will.

A light flared into existence outside the closed door where Ista sat reading, making her jump. As quietly and as quickly as she could, the newest assistant scrambled to put out her light, hide the papers, and hide herself all at once.

The Record's Room door swung open as one of the older Record keepers chosen for this week's night watch held her light higher so she could see into the dark corners of the room. Ista held her breath and leaned away from the little bit of light that had seeped underneath the desk where she crouched. She was sure she was turning purple by the time the younger girl finally closed the door and moved on to check the other rooms, but once she sucked in a deep breath she felt fine.

Ista waited a few more minutes before climbing out from under the cramped desk. She decided she was done snooping for the night and put the Guardian's papers back in their proper places before taking her unlit light and quietly sneaking back to her room.

* * *

Room Two

Fang did his best to act like his polite mannered counterpart as he sat next to Max, or Maxi as he called her, and ate dinner with what must have been the rest of the city. In all honesty, he was not sure he could pull this off, even if all he had to do was be quiet and not draw attention to himself. He thought he was doing a good job so far.

Or maybe not, he thought as the older gentleman to his right turned to him and spoke.

"So Nicholas," The strangely familiar man said. "Do you think that the Remnants were behind the doppelganger from yesterday morning?"

Fang saw out of the corner of his eye that another guest had Maxi's attention an Dr. Martinez, the only other person who knew that Fang was not Nicholas, was half way down the long table.

Fang took a minute to think as he chewed his food. Since he had gotten to this place, Maxi and her mom had been explaining the differences between his world and theirs. Fang still thought it was strange that he could walk from the sofa where he slept to the bathroom on the other side of Dr. Martinez's apartment without having to worry about Hunter's or Flyboys or even Whitecoats. However it seemed that Maxi and Mother had skipped something in their brief overview of history because Fang had no clue what the Remnants were.

So he lied. "Yes," He said taking a sip of water and then pretending to choke on it before he could give the man the rest of his answer.

"Excuse me," He gasped out once he was sure he had Maxi's attention, not to mention the rest of the tables. He stood, stumbling over his chair in a not quite accident. Maxi followed him with an apologetic smile which left her face once she joined Fang behind the safety of a thick decorative screen near the entrance well out of earshot of the others.

"What?" She asked moodily with a scowl on her face.

Fang stopped coughing and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I think you missed a couple things in your history lesson." He said quietly in case someone else happened to be close by. "Like what are the Remnants?"

Maxi sighed. "That's all your worried about?" She asked in an annoyed tone. "The Remnants are what little is left of Itex. They're harmless now, don't worry about them." She said dismissively waving her hand.

Fang grabbed her before she had a chance to return to the table.

"Whoa, hold on a minute Maxi."

"Maxi!" Oh yeah, Fang forgot to tell Maxi what her new nickname was.

Fang ignored Maxi's protest. "Did you just tell me not to worry about what's left of the insane freaks that turned us into mutants just because there's only a handful of them left? There was only a handful of them to start with and look at all the trouble they caused." He said motioning his hand towards the window before he could stop himself. He had to remember that there was a city full of people, safe and snug in their homes, beyond the glass panes instead of the endless desert and destruction that Fang was used to seeing.

Max did not seem to see Fang's stifled hand gesture; either that or she just ignored it as she rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. "Yes," She said answering his question. "But the current group is a bunch of idiots. It's best if we just ignore them. And it's either Max or Maximum. Call me Maxi again and I will hurt you." She said angrily before returning to the table with another fake smile plastered in place.

An uneasy feeling settled over Fang. Forgetting dinner, he walked out of the grand over decorated room towards the elevator that led back to Dr. Martinez's apartment. Hopefully he would run into someone on the way there who could point him towards the library.

* * *

Not at dinner. Not in the room. Not even in the freaking bathroom! Where the heck had that Other-Fang gone? It was like he had just disappeared.

Honestly Max hoped that the Other-Fang had gone back to his own messed up world and that she would find her husband waiting around the next corner instead of some paranoid look-a-like.

But no, she was not that lucky. Max slowed her furious pace as she saw the Other-Fang sitting in one of the computer rooms that acted as a document library. H was engrossed by whatever it was that was on the screen and failed to notice her when she joined him.

Until she slammed the door.

"What are you doing!" Max nearly screamed.

Fang did not leap out of his chair like a startled cat like Max had hoped, which only infuriated her more.

Fang leaned his head against the back of the chair ad calmly met Max's flaming gaze. "I'm looking up information about the Remnants."

Max fumed and put her hands on her hips. "You're wasting your time." She said bluntly. "No one's heard anything about them in almost four years, since the war ended. You're not going to find anything useful on a computer."

"Have you tried?" He asked continuing to look through computer documents at a speed that made Max dizzy.

"Well, no," She said hesitantly. "Not recently-"

"Then how do you know what I can learn about the Remnants?" Fang asked coolly as someone knocked on the door.

Max did not have enough time to think of a good enough retort before Robin stuck his head in the door with a message that someone or other wanted to speak to her as soon as possible.

Oh, Max thought to herself as she followed Robin out the door, she did not need this right now. She did not need to worry about the Remnants as well as Fang and the entire country all at once.

But what if he was right?

* * *

Fang hung another left trying to find the elevator that would take him back to Ms. Martinez's rooms. Devoid of people, the ornamented hallways and large golden rooms felt frail, as if one breath of air could knock them down. Nothing looked familiar in the half light that filtered through the gilded windows from the waning moon.

Three gem-encrusted rooms later, Fang finally admitted that he was lost. Much good that it did him. This late at night no one was awake to help him.

"Great," He told himself looking around the room he now found himself in. "I guess I'm sleeping here tonight." Fortunately for him, the current room was not a huge and echoing chamber, but actually small and filled with comfortable furniture that would make nice replacement couches.

A small gasp caught Fang's attention as he rifled through the many cabinets and drawers for something that would pass as a blanket. Quickly, Fang wrenched open the cabinet sitting next to him and yanked out…a boy?

"Uncle Fang!" The little kid cried once he realized who was holding him. "You saved me! I thought the monsters were going to get me for sure."

Fang stared at the little boy, not knowing what else to do with him.

"What monsters?" He asked for lack of anything better.

"You know," The blonde haired boy said intently before lowering his voice to a rough whisper that did not hide anything. "The ones under the bed. They come out every night so they can try and get me, but tonight I ran away and they didn't catch me." He said proudly. "But then I got lost." The little boy's face fell as Fang gently set him down on the ground.

Fang smiled. "That's okay kid, I'm lost too."

"Really? Did the monsters chase you too?"

"No," Fang said a small alarm going off in his head as he sat down on the comfiest looking couch and helping the child up next to him. "But I wish they had so I could chase them away and then they wouldn't hide under your bed anymore."

The little boy yawned and wrapped the large square piece of cloth Fang had found sitting underneath one of the embroidered pillows.

"Maybe tomorrow." He said as Fang adjusted the blanket and settled down next to the little boy.

"Sounds like a good idea to me kid. Now go to sleep and we'll see if we can't find our way back home in the morning."

"Okay." The child mumbled before falling fast asleep.

* * *

Room One

Max twisted on the hard stone floor, unable to sleep as the baby moved and kicked. What was taking so long? Fnick should have been back already. He had left over three hours ago to pick up the packet of supplies that were hidden somewhere nearby. Max sighed. Okay, so maybe it was not the best idea to hide supply packs in almost random places within a larger designated area, but it had been the quickest way to stop searchers from Itex from accidentally finding them.

Sand trickled down from above the cave opening as someone stumbled down toward the sheltered area where Max sat. She struggled to stand, but relaxed when a short swear told her it was only Fnick.

Sure enough, Fnick dropped down a few moments later form the ledge that hid the cave from most people's sight.

Max threw something at him. "Don't do that," She commanded, irritated that she had not hit him with whatever it was she had thrown.

Fnick was not to happy himself as he put the new supply pack on the ground next to him. He had spent nearly three and a half hours looking for the stupid thing in the sweltering heat and when he finally got back with the heavy dirt colored box, Max threw a rock at him demanding him to stop doing_something_.

"What?" He asked frustrated. "Don't do what!"

"Don't just pop out of no where. Let me know it's you so I don't accidentally shoot you." She said throwing a stick at him, actually hitting him this time.

"Quit hitting me da-" Max held up a hand cutting Fnick off. He honestly wanted to throw something back at her, but somehow he managed to restrain himself.

_"Did you hear that?"_ Max quickly signed in the hodgepodge of hand signs that she had been able to teach Fnick over the past twenty-four hours.

Fnick shook his head. He had not heard anything above Max's voice. Then he heard the small sound of sand rustling over rocks. Someone was trying to climb down to the cave mouth.

Fnick stood up to go see who was there before Max could stop him. Not that it mattered. Someone else stopped him instead.

A droning buzz filled the air as a man wearing a thin Eraser skin with red eyes picked Fnick up by his collar, leaving his feet dangling in the air.

Max was too shocked to point out that Fnick had led the Flyboys right to them. She was sure he could figure that out on his own anyway. But what really worried her was that Flyboys never went anywhere without a living leader, like Erasers, or Whitecoats. Or Hunters. Max did not want to wait to find out who was in charge.

"Fang." She said softly enough that the Flyboys hearing could not pick it up over their incessant buzzing. She was also careful to use his real name or at least her husband's real name so whoever would listen to the recordings that the Flyboys were making would not wonder why Max was suddenly calling Fang "Fnick."

"What?" Fnick asked in a strangled voice as another Flyboy hauled Max to her feet.

"Run." She whispered pulling out a lighter and setting the nearest Flyboys ablaze.

* * *

Room Two

"What are you doing here?"

Fang struggled to wake up, wondering who was yelling and what he had done to deserve it.

"I dunno," He said groggily. "Where am I?"

"You're sleeping on a couch."

He was? Fang cracked an eye open. Oh yeah, he was. Maxi stood with her hands on her hips dressed in a kind of finery that Fang hadn't seen since Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Fang slowly sat up, pulling the little blonde boy back from the edge of the couch so he would not fall off as he did so.

"Good morning." Fang said trying to wake up enough to deal with Maxi.

"Good morning." Maxi said sourly. "Now what are the two of you doing here?"

"I couldn't find my way back to your mom's rooms and I ended up here. This one," he said pointing to the boy "was hiding in a cabinet so the monsters under his bed wouldn't catch him. He kept calling me Uncle Fang, so I assume he knows me."

Max nodded sharply, still angry that she had had to search for Fang and Ziggy and now she was going to be late for her meeting with…with…oh dang it she had forgotten his name again.

Fang was obviously not pleased with her answer. "So what's his name? How is he my nephew?"

Max sighed, letting her frustration leak out of her as she plopped down on the chair opposite the couch regardless of her fancy clothes.

"That's Iggy's son Ziggy." She said rubbing her head trying to prevent the headache she could already feel building up in her skull. When she opened her eyes, Fang was giving her a look.

"What?" She asked some of her irritation creeping back.

"Iggy? Ziggy? Are you kidding me? And since when did Iggy have a son?"

"Since three and a half years ago when Ella had a baby."

"Huh," Fang said trying to imagine Iggy and Ella as parents to the little boy snoozing next to him. It was not so hard to picture Ella, especially if the one Maxi knew was anything like the one Fang knew, but Iggy was another story. The explosive building blind flying mutant Fang remembered was just too immature for parenting.

Fang gave a short laugh at the thought. "Iggy in charge of little kids, now that's just scary."

Maxi shrugged. "Oh I don't know," She said standing up, waiting for Fang to follow her with Ziggy. "He's done pretty good all on his own so far."

Fang looked up as he tried to pick up the little boy without waking him. "His own? Where's Ella?" He asked confused. The Ella he knew would never leave a child, especially her own.

From the look on Maxi's face, Fang realized that that was the wrong question to ask.

So Maxi refused to acknowledge it. "Come on," She said leaving the room. "I'll show you the way back."

For the most part, they walked in silence. Maxi walked quickly, conscious of her tardiness as the ornamental clocks chimed ten. Fang watched his surroundings as he kept up with Maxi, memorizing rooms and the highly decorative furnishings and such that embellished them.

A sudden deafening boom roared down the hall, stopping Maxi and Fang in their tracks. The little blonde haired boy's head jerked up like he was having a nightmare. Maxi stopped in shock before running towards the noise, leaving Fang and Ziggy behind. Fang followed with the little boy at a calmer pace, trying not to scare the frightened child any more then he had to.

"Hey you!" Fang called to a young man with brown hair as he rushed down one of the numerous small hallways that linked to the main corridor Maxi had led Fang and Ziggy to earlier. The young man seemed to recognize Fang, but from what Maxi and her mom had told him, he was not that surprised.

"Yes sir?" The assistant said sharply despite his breathlessness.

"What's going on?" Fang asked letting some urgency color his tone.

The assistant looked nearly panicked for a moment before regaining control of himself. "The Remnants have blown a hole in the wall somewhere in the east wing and are attacking."

Fang nodded once and then handed the young man Ziggy, who was staring back and forth between them, wondering what they were talking about. "Okay, take him and make sure they don't touch him." Neither Ziggy nor the assistant had time to protest as Fang ran off down the hallway and around the corner towards the sounds of fighting.

"Harmless," He scoffed. "Yeah right."


	6. Chapter 6

I've finished reading the fourth Maximum Ride book and while I don't really like the focus on global warning (or the fact that Max pushed Fang away **_again_**) I really liked it. I also think there's going to be a fifth book!! YES! James Patterson said something about needing to keep an eye on Max and Fang up until book 5. It's amazing, I'm so excited! He said it in an interview on his website if you want to try and see for yourself.

* * *

Maximum Ride, Maximum Fall

Chapter Six

Max was struck with an almost overwhelming sense of deja vu as she and Fnick ran as fast as they could past the abandoned, broken down houses. She had lost sight of the Hunter but the Flyboys oppressive drone still followed them as she and Fnick ducked into a slim walkway that was somehow squeezed between two leaning houses. The crowd of Flyboys slowed as they were forced to funnel through the obscenely small alleyway. Max almost wished it were bigger herself as she scampered deeper into the maze that the alleyway led to. She did not look back as she ran, trusting Fnick to keep up with her as she darted around corners and through empty door ways. She had just begun to think she had gone to far when she saw the dusty, faded blue door frame that marked the hidden entrance the Caverns.

"This way." She whispered to Fnick as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him through the empty door way. She did not stop as she pulled him with her towards the far wall. Fnick struggled, thinking that they were about to go crashing through the rotting wooden wall.

Max silently laughed. Idiot.

The two avian hybrids vanished through the holographic wall and Max at least braced herself for the slight drop from ground level to the floor of the tunnel that led to the Caverns.

A droning buzz outside made the two fleeing mutants freeze on the floor. The Flyboys drone drowned out any other noise as the robots searched the immediate area for Max and Fang. The holographic wall, sensing Itex drones nearby, solidified into something resembling a real, rotting, wooden wall as the metallic Erasers came near it.

BOOM!!

A Flyboy banged on the apparently wooden structure, startling Max and Fnick below. When nothing happened, a dim, human, voice in the background ordered the Flyboys to keep searching and with a roaring buzz, the robots left.

It was abnormally silent once they were gone. Fnick strained his ears, but could only catch his and Max's heavy breathing as they lay on the cold dirt floor of the dim tunnel.

"Are you alright?" Fnick managed to ask, hoping that his eyes would adjust soon to the dark light of the tunnel.

"Max?" He asked again when all he heard was her ragged breathing from somewhere to his left. He reached out tentatively, afraid of what else might be living in this dark tunnel, hoping that it was Max breathing hard next to him.

"Max?"

Max groaned in pain, but did not speak.

"What's wrong? Fnick asked, finally finding Max's shaking body in the gloom.

"I - I don't - know." Max whispered weakly as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "It hurts." She whined pitifully.

Fnick looked up as a new sound traveled down the underground tunnel. A faint, bobbing, yellow glow slowly traveled down the tunnel towards Fnick and Max.

As gently as he could, Fnick lifted Max off the ground. Neither of them was in any decent shape to fight, and with Max writhing in pain, running was not out of the question.

Which left hiding as their only option. Well, hiding or being caught by whoever was coming down the tunnel, but Fnick did not find the second option so appealing as one might think.

But looking at the bare dirt corridor around him, Fnick realized that he may not have much of a choice.

* * *

Ista calmly walked past the numerous shelves of records, acting as if she had every right to be there. Technically, she did, but as one of the Guardian's five personal assistants, she usually left all record work to the younger Record Keepers.

However today, the Guardian had insisted that Ista deliver her newest paperwork personally to the girl in charge of the twenty-five other filers. Ista was more then happy to comply; although she let the Guardian and her other assistants believe it was because she was eager to see her best friend Lori, who had been promoted to Head Record Keeper at the same time that Ista had been promoted to Fifth Assistant. And while Ista was glad to see Lori again, what she really needed to do was to replace some of the papers she had been reading over the last few nights. So far, she had not found anything in the Guardian's personal records that proved she had been disobeying the Council. After three nights Ista was beginning to worry that maybe she had just imagined the scorn she had heard in the Guardian's voice, or maybe the old woman had been making some sort of joke.

Ista shook her head. No, the Guardian never smiled much less told jokes.

Coolly, still acting as if she belonged, Ista took the Guardian's extra key from her sash and entered her employer's personal records room. Ista had managed to steal the key the day after she had first broke into the Guardian's records. It was easier than picking the lock every night and, so far, no one had noticed its absence.

Ista worked quickly to file away the papers in their proper places. She had already gone to see Lori, but as strict and overbearing as the Guardian was, it would hard to steal time away from work.

A paper suddenly dropped out of the shelf where it had been hiding between two bronze book ends that were being used to control the mess of files and records.

Ista swiftly picked it up, glanced over it, and neatly stuffed it back in the shelf. She was almost to the door, ready to leave, when she stopped and raced back to the bookshelf, grabbing the small piece of paper.

She read the short note more thoroughly, her eyes readily taking in the hurriedly scrawled words.

_Hole reopened at two. Safe to enter Room at four._

Ista read the note again and again, slowly taking in the impossibility of what it said. Holes were tunnels that led to either dead Rooms or Rooms that no longer had problems. Once a tunnel became a hole, there was no way that someone in the Eye could reopen it. Ista had always assumed that once a tunnel was closed there was no way to reopen it at all.

But apparently there was some way, however illegal it probably was, Ista thought as she looked at the note. She turned it over, hoping there was something else that could help her written on the back.

_213._

Ista guessed it was the number of the Room from the note.

Quickly, Ista hid the note in her sash with the stolen key. Then she boldly left the room with her head held high, hoping that none of the Record girls would see her hands shake.

* * *

"Uncle Fang! Uncle Fang!" Ziggy cried from across the large, partially open foyer. Fang looked up from the new version of Flyboy that lay cut open at his feet where he had been studying the wires and electronics that made up its internal system.

"Hey Ziggy," Fang called. "Stay there a minute okay?" Ziggy nodded vigorously as the young man who had been watching him throughout the battle (Fang learned his name was Robin) held onto the small boy's hand.

"Make sure to save some of there." Fang told one of the groups that were removing the robots. Fang was not sure if Maxi would think to study the Flyboys and he did not want to take the chance that she would not. The Flyboys here were different from the one's Fang knew. He did not know if it was because of the unusual technology or something else, but he did plan to find out how they differed from their doubles at home.

The leader of the cleaning group nodded in assurance and Fang trotted across the Flyboy strewn floor to the grand archway where Robin and Ziggy waited.

"Hey Ziggy, how you doing?" Fang asked as he lifted up the little boy.

"The monsters Uncle Fang!" The three year old screamed excitedly.

"Yes, the monsters are all gone." Fang reassured thinking the little boy meant the mechanical wolf men behind them.

"No!" Ziggy cried, panicky now. "You missed one! The master monster is still out there."

Fang began to wonder if he should be worried more about safety or Ziggy's overactive imagination. "Master monster?" He asked disbelievingly. "What master monster?"

Ziggy sighed dramatically. "Uncle Fang," he whined, "I told you about him last night remember? He's the one that tells the others what to do."

Fang sighed, relieved that he only had to worry about Ziggy's imagination instead of a real "master monster". For a half-mutant bird kid, Ziggy had a pretty healthy head.

"I remember now." Fang said. "He's the one that hides under your bed yeah?"

"Yeah, usually daddy scares him away before I go to sleep but he's not home right now and you forgot last night."

"Well I certainly won't forget tonight." Fang reassured the little blond boy.

"And neither will I." A familiar voice said from behind them.

Fang froze in shock as Ziggy cried, "Daddy!" excitedly and squirmed to be let down. Fang let Ziggy go and turned slowly to watch as the little boy ran towards Iggy.

"Hey Zig, how've you been?" Iggy asked as he threw his son u pin the air and caught him lightly on his way down. Ziggy immediately launched into his story of what had happened over the five days that Iggy head been gone.

Between nods and yeahs, Iggy waved a hand in greeting to Fang, who had not moved since he had put Ziggy down.

Without a word, Fang turned around and walked as fast as he could toward the room where Maxi was talking with her mother and several other older men and women.

* * *

Max gradually focused on the dim bedside lamp that sat on the small wooden table next to her skinny hospital-like bed. She had just woken up in what she _believed_ was one of the Caverns medical rooms, but her brain was still to fogged up for her to be sure and so far no one had been nice enough to come in and give her any specifics. Cautiously, Max took in small room with its one chair beside the bed and nightstand. The wooden door was scratched and old looking, like someone had taken it from a house. The rock walls stood out especially even in the dim glow of the lamp, giving off an orangey-yellowy light.

That was one of the reasons Max thought she was in the Caverns. It was the only place she knew of that was carved into the unique yellow-orange rock that lay under the new desert that the Director had formed.

Max heard a soft sound as someone opened the scarred door and entered the room. Closing her eyes, Max relaxed her body as the unknown person walked around the side of the bed to see Max's face. Max felt tension start to build up inside her as the stranger went still.

"Max?" A welcome voice asked softly. "Are you awake honey?"

Max opened her eyes and was relieved to see her mother standing there in her white coat with a plain t-shirt and jeans underneath.

"Mom?" Max asked unnecessarily. Dr. Martinez helped her oldest daughter into a sitting position before giving her a gentle hug. Max looked around at the small room again suddenly wondering where a certain dark haired mutant was.

"Where's Fang?" Max asked hoping the ignorant Fnick had managed to keep out of trouble while she was asleep.

"Nicholas," Dr. Martinez said in a low voice so no one else who happened to be listening could hear. "Is in your rooms. I thought it would be best if he stayed there for the moment."

Max nodded. "He told you what happened then?" She asked, glad that someone else knew that Fang was in fact Fnick. She figured that if someone else knew (and believed) it meant there was a smaller chance that she was crazy. By having her mother know, Max thought that the chances of her own insanity had dropped to about, oh, ninety-eight percent.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Martinez asked bringing Max's attention back to the reason why she and Fang hand decided to come to the Caverns in the first place. Max sat up a little straighter as she counted bruises and aches and thought about what had caused them.

"Fine for the most part," She said. "I'm a little sore but nothing out of the ordinary. Why? Is something wrong?" She asked suddenly nervous that the baby was hurt or ill.

"No, no," Dr. Martinez quickly reassured her daughter. "We haven't found anything wrong. You're a very lucky girl Max to be in practically perfect health after being poisoned by Hunters and chased by Flyboys."

"Oh, thank goodness." Max breathed and laid back on the pillows piled up behind her. Her weariness was returning as the anxiety left her system. But something still bugged her. She was not sure what it was, something her mom said maybe, but she was too tired to try and find the problem now. She would solve it later, after a nap.

* * *

Fang burst into the fairly plain round room where maxi was surrounded by numerous men and women who were talking around the circular table.

"Oh hello Nicholas," The familiar old man from dinner the night before said as Fang entered the room. Fang silenced him with a look. To be honest the man looked more surprised then anything else, but Fang was to busy kicking everyone else out of the room to notice.

Fang turned his fatal glare on the rest of the room's occupants. "Get out." He said putting as much force as he could behind his words as he could. The advisors practically ran out of the room, all except for the old man, who stood quietly in a corner wondering what in the world could be wrong with Nicholas.

Maxi looked somewhere between horrified and furious as she gaped at Fang. "What the heck are you doing?" She fumed coming around the circular table to stand face to face with Fang.

Fang ignored her question. "Why didn't you tell me they were alive?" He hissed between his teeth.

"Who?" Maxi asked completely baffled.

"Iggy." Fang spat unaware that the blind bird man and his son had just entered the room and were standing with Mr. Overstreet in the corner to watch what was going on. "Nudge. Gazzy. Angel. Total. Why didn't you tell me they were alive?!" Fang whispered forcefully.

"Why would you think they were dead?" Maxi retorted. "And didn't we talk about Iggy just this morning?"

Fang started to pace. It had not clicked. He had not realized that Iggy was alive, that they all were alive, even when he and Maxi had talked about her friends that morning.

"I didn't realize he was still alive." Fang admitted grudgingly as he continued to pace.

"Okay," Maxi said as Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel joined Iggy, Ziggy, and Overstreet in the corner. "But why would you think they were dead?" She was still very confused.

Fang stopped pacing. "Because my friends were killed by the Director nearly six years ago." He said his hands clenched at his side.

Behind him, Angel sagged against her older brother. "You're not Fang." She whispered hearing Fang's thoughts for the first time.

Maxi and Fang finally noticed their audience. Fang tried to leave, but maxi caught hold of his shirt and refused to let go. "What sweetie?" She asked trying to keep her voice and thoughts normal. "What are you talking about Ange? Of course this is-"

"Don't lie to me Max." Angel cut in as she regained her balance.

Maxi was about to try and deny it again, but Fang spoke before she could. "You're right." He said suddenly. "I'm not your Fang."

"Then who are you?" Gazzy asked enraged that Fang would leave without telling them.

"My name _is_ Fang and as corny as it sounds, I come from a parallel universe."

Iggy laughed. "Good one." He said. "Now really, who are you?"

Fang did not say anything.

"Oh come on," Iggy complained. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that do you? I mean, our lives are weird, but they're not that weird."

Fang still did not talk.

"Angel? Nudge spoke up for the first time. "What do you hear?"

The golden haired girl swallowed hard. "It's true." She whispered. "I can see it in his head, a whole 'nother world." Despite her fright Fang noticed there was a hint of awe in her voice as she realized he was telling the truth.

"Yeah right," Gazzy said sounding skeptical. "I'm sorry Angel, but I'm going to have to see solid proof before I believe him. There's no way he's being totally honest."

A flash of white light scoured the room, forcing everybody, including Iggy, to shield their eyes. After blinking furiously, Fang was able to make out the slim form of the young woman who had explained everything to Max and him.

"Ista," He said politely. "Would you mind telling them the truth?"


End file.
